


Dreaming Is Free

by Viridian5



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Drama, M/M, Weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-06-06
Updated: 1999-06-06
Packaged: 2017-10-02 09:14:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viridian5/pseuds/Viridian5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex shares a dream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dreaming Is Free

**Author's Note:**

> All lyrics are from "Dreaming" by Blondie.
> 
> It doesn't completely fit the criteria, but it was inspired by the Spike's Dreamy Challenge.
> 
> Beta by the ever-gracious Ladonna.
> 
> "You... could tell I was no debutante..."

_"Imagine something of your very own,  
Something you could have and hold..."_  
\----------------------------------------

"So I was walking down this alley when I heard a loud sound, like bells and glass breaking. I drew my gun and ran at it. I know, I know, stupid, but this is a dream, remember? I reached the end and saw a huge pile of gemstones, with more falling from the sky by the minute. They glowed and gleamed in more colors than I would have guessed existed. All beautiful and some as large as my fist.

"Don't look at me like that. If you'd been there, you would have wanted to steal them all too. Trust me. Well, don't then. I don't care. It doesn't matter.

"Some little old man was sitting at the foot of the pile, holding them up for examination and muttering to himself. 'This is still pretty.' 'If I cut this down to smaller ones, no one will see the flaws.' That's when I realized that all the gems were damaged: cracked, smashed, or gouged.

"He looked up at me, and I recognized him as a little pawnshop owner I'd terminated a year ago. He'd been harmless, afraid of his own shadow, but he'd seen something he shouldn't, and I had my orders. Actually, I'm not sure if the man in the dream really looked like him; it was just one of those dream things where you see someone and say, 'This is whoever,' and maybe later realize the dream figure didn't look anything like that person. Sure, you know what that's like.

"He picked up a large, cracked sapphire and told me it was mine. It felt warm and alive in my hands but still damaged somehow. Hey, it's a dream, right? I could feel its imperfections just with my hands. When I looked inside it, I saw-- Nah, I'm not telling you. No, I won't. The puppy dog eyes won't work, but don't stop, they're fun to look at.

"Do you know I like you better gagged? Okay, maybe that was obvious. You can keep on making those cute little noises too. I'm not taking it off until I'm ready.

"I looked into all the other gems and saw scenes of love and ambition, a few mine, most not. Families, power, respect, adoration. I saw a gem that had to be one of yours, because it had an image of your sister inside. That one looked like it had been smashed and put back together multiple times.

"You know, you're much easier to deal with fresh out of a sound sleep. So much more agreeable. I should surprise you like this more often.

"The pawnbroker handed me another gem and said, 'This one isn't broken, just a little neglected.' When I wiped the dirt away, it looked like an emerald, but it was shot through with gleaming swirls of blue and gold. It felt even warmer than the other one. I looked inside and then I woke up."

Mulder made a sound through his gag. Alex smiled, got up from the couch, and untied the handkerchief. "Well, what do you think, Mulder?"

Mulder licked his lips a little, yawned almost convulsively, then said, "You were looking at a pile of broken dreams." Half asleep, he did sound much more reasonable. He looked like he wasn't so certain he was actually awake.

Awake, he'd probably be trying to rip himself loose of the ropes and chair.

Alex crouched by the side of the chair. "So you did earn that degree at Oxford. But I wouldn't call them dreams."

"What would you call them?"

"Goals. Ambitions."

"You say 'tomato.' All right. So you didn't come over here at 4 a.m. for my professional opinion. It was one of your lost goals to tie me to a chair and gag me? Oh, of course. Never mind."

"That's part of it."

Mulder sat there in his rumpled sweatpants and flyaway bed head looking rueful, offhandedly gorgeous, and so familiar that it could have been years ago, when all the secrets had still been safely hidden. A streetlight shining through the window catching one of his eyes made it look like clear, colored glass.

Alex settled onto his lap. "This is the rest." Then kissed him.

He struggled only a little, enough to be more exciting, before kissing back. Some people might have had trouble dealing with the ropes, but he was just kinky enough to get into it.

When they surfaced for air, Mulder asked, "You came here because a dream suggested you should?"

"Yeah."

"Kind of impulsive."

"Uh-huh."

"Alex, are you really here?"

"Sure, but how else would I answer?"

"Right."

"You _are_ awake, Mulder."

"Yeah, it looks like it." Mulder let himself melt into another kiss. "Can you untie me?"

"Maybe later." Alex licked the salt of sleep sweat from Mulder's neck. Tied to a chair or not, he certainly didn't seem to mind.

He still had to talk, though. "You're crazy."

"You're just sitting here for it."

"I'm tied down."

"Tell me no, then."

Mulder sighed. "I'm going to regret this."

He'd talk himself into it. He always had. Most of him was already going along.

It looked like this one really wasn't broken after all.

### End

_"Dreaming is free  
I don't want to live on charity  
Pleasure's real or is it fantasy?  
Real to real is living rarity  
People stop and stare at me  
We just walk on by  
We just keep on dreaming..."_

**NOTE:** Thinking about it, the dream gems may have been slightly inspired by a book I hadn't read in years, _A Bait of Dreams_ by Jo Clayton. The Ranga Eyes aren't the same thing, but they're close. Sponge!Viridian strikes again.

It's hard to believe Jo Clayton is gone...


End file.
